Entwine
by carrycara
Summary: The Water Empire has kept peace for nearly a century since Fire Lord Sozin's airbender genocide. The last of Sozin's heirs have finally slipped into the Water cities to turn the world back the way it should've been. (The Winner's Curse AU)
1. part I

entwine

* * *

><p><em>you're something beautiful; a contradiction<em>

_i want to play the game, i want the friction_

_-time is running out/ muse_

* * *

><p>"Send him in," Katara says, waving a hand. She catches a glimpse of torn Earth city clothes- the toughest workers always seem to come from there- and figures he's part of the small group of slaves her father requested. Katara glances towards the guard (a nonbender by his medium-blue uniform) and sees a dirty boy much taller than her by the guard's side.<p>

"Clean him up before taking him anywhere. I'm not sure where he'll be needed."

"Yes, Lady Katara."

"My father will stop by the workshops to check on the new servants," she adds. "Please make sure this one and all of the others are there by about noon." Another glance towards the boy. Katara sees an angry scar and long hair, halfway down to his elbows and in a messy Earthen topknot. "And cut his hair."

The boy hadn't looked at her until then, but his angry eyes land on her now, burning through her back as she breezes past.

Her mind strays to her students as she nears the end of the hall. Summer is fading into autumn, now, but in the South Pole it's always hard to distinguish between the seasons. There's just about a month left until Katara takes her students to the North Pole for a visit, and hopefully, with the help of Master Paku (who would've thought?) she'll be able to convince Chief Arnook to let women join the North's armies.

The South's numbers have always been low, even with both women and men in the army and navy, and with the Phoenix Fighters' numbers growing everyday, they need as many soldiers as they can get. Hundreds of the North and South's soldiers were killed in the past years, which was hundreds more than were killed ever since the Great War that saw the Water Tribes become the dominant force in the world and the Fire Nation fall.

Getting Arnook to pass a law allowing women to fight could double the North's numbers overnight. It would be another step towards securing the Water Empire's power and making sure the Phoenix Fighters never even glimpse a chance of throwing the Fire Nation back into dominance.

"Your students were just escorted into the chambers," the guard next to the staircase says once Katara reaches there.

"Thank you. Could you please send for the gates to training block B to be opened? We'll be heading out there in about half an hour."

"Of course."

Katara half-smiles to herself, imagining the complaints that'll arise out of her troop at today's training plans.

XxX

"Keep that up, Cara! You've hit almost all of them right in the middle," Katara calls over the sounds of girls pattering across obstacles, slicing dummies with ice and sparring with each other.

Right now's the easy part, where she has them split into drill groups, but she'll have them run the whole training block, start to finish individually, with them facing off Katara herself at the end.

"That's good, Meya!" Katara is shouting when she sees a slim silhouette heading across the training block.

Katara meets her in the middle. "Hey, Leira." The other girl holds out a bag.

"I brought you lunch," Leira says, taking in the scene with eyes that are greener than the typical Southern blue. One of the recruits suddenly flings an icicle at a dummy near Leira and she flinches. "Sokka was right about you going crazy with the training these days."

Katara looks over at her friend with a raised brow. "When did _you_ see him? He barely leaves the palace these days."

"He was at my house with Roan and a few others earlier. Your brother always has time to socialize." Leira's gaze goes back to the ongoing training. "You may have only ten girls but they sure raise hell, Katara. You've done an amazing job with them."

"I just hope all of the work is worth it," Katara replies. "They all started their training early just for this and they've worked so much... I hope it pays off."

"It will, Katara," Leira says, smiling reassuringly. "Make sure you eat, alright? I'm in training block D until five. Me and some of the others guys and girls are going out to town later."

"I'll see if I can come. There's just so much to do-"

"I'll stay back and help you out if you need it."

"Nah, it's fine. Enjoy yourself. It's more of the type that I have to do on my own, anyway. Documents and things."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Positive? You know I don't mind."

"Positive."

"Are we still on for training tomorrow?" Tomorrow is the last day of the week, the only day off from training that the military kids have, but the circuit tests for entry into the army or navies is soon, and Leira has been practicing every opportunity she gets.

"Of course."

Katara raises the whistle around her neck to her lips and her troop falls into formation immediately at the shrill.

* * *

><p>Zuko's head feels strangely lighter without his hair brushing his shoulders, and he finds himself swiping at the air by his temples periodically to push back strands that don't exist. He hadn't cut his hairs in years, not since Iroh had disappeared, since after that he and the remaining Fire upperclass (seven people, including Zuko) had to venture into the Earth villages to live as refugees. They needed long hair for the strange hairstyles of the plains and Zuko's now short-haired reflection is a shock to him.<p>

"You! New guy!" someone snaps, and Zuko's head jerks to the right.

"Yes?"

"Stop looking at yourself in the bowls, peasant. Not much to look at anyway," the cook guffaws.

Zuko's hands turn more feverish as they dry the remaining dishes, a pathetic way to take out anger. _  
><em>

_Keep your temper in check, Zuko, _he tells himself, and distantly he hears his uncle telling him the same; just more eloquently.

The cook's laughter fades as he walks away from Zuko and across the kitchen to entertain himself with bothering another slave.

Zuko hates the kitchen. The constant clanging of pots and clattering of utensils, the yelling and shouting, the tedious work. And if he's honest with himself, also partially because kitchens remind him of Uncle. Uncle was always at home with a bag of herbs and a kettle or vegetables and a pot and a place to cook.

* * *

><p>"A dinner?" Katara says, trying to keep the exasperation out of her voice. "Who's coming?"<p>

"Generals Torr and Kian."

"For the Ember territories?"

"Yes. To honor their accomplishments in conquering the territories. I've also invited General Rey's family."

At the last part, Katara brightens. Leira and Roan will be coming. Katara knows that her father has solely invited them for Katara's company because General Rey isn't even in the South; deployed to one of the larger Earth colonies to settle leadership disputes.

"Thank you."

Hakoda waves it off. "You know that General Torr and Kian's wives don't really get along anyway. Leira's mother will be needed as a peacemaker."

Katara laughs. "Since when are you up-to-date on the military wives' drama?"

His face turns dead-serious. "I can't have a murder during dinner. It'll ruin my appetite."

XxX

"He's the last person we want standing out there with that scar!"

Zuko looks passively between the two arguing chefs, a tray of rice outstretched in the space between them.

"We don't have a choice! I mean, okay, he's not the easiest to look at, but we need another one to serve out there!"

The tray's shoved into Zuko's hands.

"You need to finish your dessert and I need to carmelize those bananas. Let this kid help with serving. It's alright."

The resistance seeps out of the other chef. "Fine." He turns to Zuko. "You know where the formal dining hall is, right?"

Zuko shakes his head no. It's not like he was given a tour of the place.

A glare passes between the chefs and then one of them prattles off some directions, and a few seconds later, Zuko's off.

He enters the dining room, surrounded by chatter, and keeps his chin slightly tilted as he looks for an empty space to put the food down. He doesn't see any, and his blood boils at the sheer _amount _of food on the table. Children starve in the Fire colonies; their resources being routed to the corrupt Earth officials, while here there is _so much _that could easily sustain a thousand people.

He and the escaped royalty may have lived as refugees, but they were lucky that they got out before Fire and Earth borders were strictly regulated. At least Zuko usually went to sleep with a full stomach.

"You can bring it here," a voice says, and he looks down the table to see the Chief's daughter gesturing towards him.

He walks over and he sees a flash of recognition when she sees him fully. Unlike like most people, her attention first flits to his hair, and then _barely _towards his scar. She is the one who'd ordered it cut, isn't she? The glance towards the scar is so quick that only years of having people try to discreetly look at the left side of his face allows him to catch it.

_Lady Katara. _He'd been warned about her before being sent to the South. She is small, probably almost a foot shorter than him, but one of the best waterbenders the Water Empire has seen, and supposedly sharp. She might be one of his biggest obstacles.

Zuko puts down the rice and heads back to the kitchen.

"Your macaroons are too hard!"

"At least I didn't put saffron in the pudding! In the name of La, who puts _saffron _in pudding?"

"We'll have to throw these out now! What a waste-"

"Oh, come _on. _My macaroons taste a hundred times better than your _saffron-_" one of the bickering chefs notices Zuko's reappearance, and another platter is shoved towards him. "Put this down and bring in any empty platters."

Zuko returns to the dining hall, and tries to balance three empty platters, cursing the forge master for keeping him in late.

He makes three more rounds to and from the dining hall, and on his last round to collect empty plates with the other servers, everyone is gone from the dining hall. Zuko breaths a bitter sigh. He won't have to serve the people who destroyed his nation any more.

Zuko sits down on a stool in the kitchen, holding his dinner of simple rice and vegetable stew. He rapidly shoves in mouthfuls before the chefs can find anything else for him to do.

"You!"

Zuko huffs out a, "Yes?"

"You're helping with tea and desserts."

"I can hardly serve tea," Zuko says, looking at the tray with a delicate teapot and little teacups being handed to him. Uncle would've loved the teaset.

That's not entirely true, because Zuko worked as a server in a teashop with Uncle for a while when they were desperate for money and their little refugee group couldn't live off the land. Between that and Uncle's general infatuation with tea, he can handle serving, but he refuses to handle serving to Water royalty.

"Just make sure you don't burn anyone and you'll be fine."

"There's other servers," Zuko says, gesturing towards the flurry of people bringing in empty plates and cleaning.

"We're sending in a few others with sweets. We need the tea there _now._"

Zuko holds the chef's eyes until the chef looks away, and only then does he take the tray with more force than necessary.

"You probably saw that there's a sitting room attached to the dining hall. Take this there and stay there for a little while until I send in another server to take your place."

In the sitting room, Zuko pours everyone tea with as much grace as he can muster through his lingering anger at being made to do this. Once he's done, he stands in a space at a far corner of the room. The room is longer than it is wide, but only by a bit, and big enough that the men, women, and the Chief's daughter and the two other siblings can sit in groups and be completely out of the others' earshot.

The room is simple but everything is expensive-looking, from the plush chairs and white oak tables, to the solid silk curtains. Zuko's street-wired mind automatically starts gauging how long he could sustain seven people on the money from everything. The answer is many, many years.

He keeps an eye on the people nearest to him, the Chief's daughter and the other boy and girl. They're sitting in a circle around a table with a Pai Sho board on it. Zuko watches the Chief's daughter and the boy's game once he tires of staring straight ahead at the opposite. The boy is winning, and Zuko mentally calculates what moves he'd make if he were the girl. They both put up a good game, but the girl's making tiny mistakes that add up.

"The chefs want you back in the kitchen."

Zuko's attention snaps to the server in front of him. He nods once and heads out of the sitting room.

"Here, take this." A platter of small sweet cakes is thrust into this arms. "Wait out everyone and pick up the dishes at the end."

Zuko walks back to the sitting room, and there seems to have been a call for a rematch, because the Chief's daughter and boy are still going on with their game. After three more rematches (the daughter loses one, wins one, then loses one), they seem to tire of Pai Sho and start to move from their chairs. Suddenly, everyone decides to leave the sitting room, probably to go up to a study or one of the many other parlors, and Zuko waits for all of them to leave.

The Chief's daughter stays behind.

"I'll take one of the trays," she says, eyes trailing to the half-emptied platter of sweet cakes. She starts to gather some of the small crumb-ridden plates and stacks them on the platter like she's been doing it her entire life.

"I'll handle it."

"You can't possibly take this all in one go. I'll just take this platter-"

"Pardon me, my lady," Zuko says, "but you should really leave. I can take care of it."

"I always do this. It's no problem."

Something bubbles beneath Zuko's skin, but he pinpoint what exactly it is. If his only job is to serve _Water _royalty and clean up after them, can't she at least let him do that?

He passes by the Pai Sho game, left in its end state, and he says, "You played your hand wrong."

"Excuse me?"

"If you'd moved the poppy tile diagonally, you would've won."

He watches the realization play across her features as she draws a few steps closer and peers at the board. Zuko moves a few steps back.

"So you play Pai Sho."

"Maybe," Zuko says blankly, balancing the dishes on the tray he's holding.

"You either play or don't."

"It doesn't matter whether I play or not."

Her next word is sharp and impatient. "Because?"

Zuko smiles thinly. "Because you wouldn't want to play against me."

* * *

><p>Katara rushes into the kitchen, looking for the fruit basket amid all of the usual bustle of the place.<p>

"Looking for this?" an apple is tossed to Katara and she catches it just before it starts to descend towards the ground.

"Thanks, Roan," she says, startled. "I didn't know you were still in the palace."

He shrugs. "I stayed behind with Sokka. You were with Leira in your room so you probably didn't notice."

"Did you guys stay awake all night?" she asks, raising an eyebrow and biting into her apple.

"Not really," Roan says, and at Katara's expressions, he says, "well, not _all _night, but pretty close."

"No wonder Sokka wasn't as hyper when I saw him this morning. What do you guys even do all of that time?"

"We do man things. I can't tell you about them," he says, nudging her shoulder.

"I'm sure they're very interesting," Katara says, taking another bite of her apple. "When are you going back home?"

Roan looks down at the watch on his wrist. "I should get going now, but I was wondering if you want to train for a bit? Just one spar. I still need that rematch from last time."

"You won't beat me anyway."

He grins. "Well, let's see."

When they spar, she wins, but she feels something different with her and Roan; something with the way he looks at her.

* * *

><p>"I was thinking of wearing something like the Earth kimonos, maybe lavender-blue? I'm not sure. What about you, Katara?" Alena, one of Katara's other closest friends, sits across from her.<p>

Katara is startled out of her thoughts. "Oh, um. Leira's picking out a dress for me. Right?"

Leira tsks from her right. "Mm-hm. But Firstwinter's five months away. Enough about that."

Katara opens her mouth to speak, but she's cut off by a slave entering to serve tea. It's the same server from yesterday, the one whose hair she'd ordered cut. He pours the tea with a grace that is unexpected from someone who looks like they've lived on the streets their whole life; whose tall and lean-muscled frame suggest fighting underground for a living instead of waiting in tea shops.

They fall quiet as the slave pours each of tea and they each sip silently for a few moments before speaking again.

"Did you two hear about the riots in Ginleng territories?" Alena asks in a slightly lower volume than before.

"The riots are nothing," Katara says, waving a hand. "We have it under control. I read the briefings myself."

"Are the latest briefings you read from yesterday?"

"Yes."

Alena leans towards Katara and Leira. "News came in this morning that General Arak sold crates of some of the finest arrows from the warehouse in Ginleng on the black market. The Earth people are in an uproar about the _corruptness _of the Water empire. His punishment's to be determined."

Katara's startled. "How did you find out?"

"My father was working closely with General Arak. My father was under suspect for a short time and the letter came to us this morning to acquit him."

"I came straight here to meet you this morning so I missed the daily palace briefing. Who's making the decision?"

"The letter said it would be joint between your father and Chief Arnook."

"Could the powder have been stolen?" Leira asks.

"I don't know. The letter wasn't that detailed."

Katara frowns and tries to ease them past the topic. "I'll ask my father about it later. I'm sure it's not anything that big. There's more important things to worry about."

"Like the circuit tests," Alena says with a sigh.

"I hate to say this, but Sangok is actually really, really good. He might be top recruit this year," Leira says. "Some one-on-one fights with him are over in _seconds._"

"Have you sparred with him?" Alena asks. Katara sets down her now-empty teacup and takes a brief look around the room. The slave's expression is carefully blank, but she saw him shifting during their discussion about General Arak in her periphery. There was a look in his eye that she can't quite place.

"It was fifteen minutes before I beat him," Leira says, shrugging. "It was at the beginning of my training block, though, and at the end of his. And it was with swords, of course."

Leira is well-known to be one of the best hand-to-hand combatants the South has seen.

"Fifteen minutes is pretty impressive for someone to hold out on you," Katara says.

"But he's one of the top waterbenders, too. He's the whole package," Leira says, and at the look Katara and Alena give her at that, she says, "No! Not like that! Guys!"

"Maybe we should send Sangok's father a formal message."

"Firstwinter would be the _perfect _time to debut."

Afterwards, Katara walks Alena and Leira to the front gates of the palace before returning to the sitting room to neaten it up.

There are a few plates left behind that the slave didn't take his first round of clearing up the room. Katara pushes them all into the center of the table before squatting down by it. She pulls up one leg of the table slightly to get out the folded corner of the rug underneath it. She carefully smooths it and lowers the table leg down slowly before starting to get up.

Katara jolts and makes a strange noise of surprise when she sees the slave's right across from her, picking up the plates from the table. She didn't hear him come in.

The slave raises his one eyebrow and Katara stands up quickly.

"How do you know General Arak?" The look she'd seen flit across his face before, she realizes, was recognition.

He looks momentarily surprised but then says, "I lived in Ginleng, for a while."

Katara's eyebrows draw slightly closer. "You were taken from Ba Sing Se, no? That's practically on the opposite end from Ginleng." Being taken from Ba Sing Se is a guess, but it's either that or Omashu. He'd been wearing city clothes when he came in.

"Omashu, actually. Yes, it is far from Ginleng, but I was always on the move or else I'd be caught like I was now. I've been almost everywhere in the Earth Kingdom."

That's true, Katara gauges. Every feature of his looks Fire, from his yellowish eyes to his dark hair and pale skin that only belongs to people with pure Fire blood. He's easily recognizable, and his scar wouldn't have helped, she guesses.

"General Arak's only been stationed in Ginleng for a year. You went from Ginleng to Omashu in a year?"

"Yes. If you don't mind, my Lady, I should be getting back to the kitchen."

He starts towards the door but Katara says, "Wait. Tell me what you know about General Arak."

The slave turns to look at her slowly. "He _is _corrupt, unlike what your friend was suggesting. He's just as bad as all of them."

Katara is slightly taken aback by his brashness. She could have him whipped for saying that.

"Did the people favor him?"

"No."

"Was he despised?"

"Not more than any of your other officials."

"Were there rebel groups in Ginleng?" Katara asks, going on a limb, because why would he tell her even if there was?

"If you're thinking that it was stolen like the other girl said, you're wrong. Arak was known to pinch off things here and there for a bit of cash."

"You were listening pretty attentively."

"You could probably see that I had nothing better to do," he replies, and Katara waves a hand to let him leave.

* * *

><p>"Moving the daisy tile left would've won you the game," the slave says blankly as ever, keeping his eyes downcast and picking up teacups. Katara stacks plates on a tray.<p>

She doesn't bother looking at the Pai Sho board to see if he's right. He's almost always right. This scarred slave is the kitchen's go-to tea server now, and whenever Katara has to entertain guests, he is always there in the corner, having on a perfectly neutral expression but Katara knows he's paying close attention to everything at the same time.

Katara surprises herself by asking a question outside of their usual realm of two-sentence conversations.

"Remember when I asked you a few weeks ago if you play Pai Sho?"

He doesn't look up at her. "Yes."

"And you said it doesn't matter, because I wouldn't want to play against you."

There is no affirmation from him this time, and Katara goes on, "You implied that you could defeat me."

"I implied a Water royal would not want to play against a Fire slave," he says, looking up.

"No, you phrased it so that it could mean both," Katara says, and pauses, the hand putting down the last plate stilling. "I thought we could play a game."

"The chefs need me in the kitchens."

"Not if I say they don't."

"I'd rather stay in my own work," he replies, attention back on his plates. He starts to head for the door.

"You're no match for me anyway."

He looks back at her mid-step, something like amusement in his expression. "Where would we play? The kitchen?"

"The sitting room attached to the dining hall."

Katara is not doing anything wrong by meeting with a slave; Water people have always treated their Fire slaves as only a smidgen less than equals, but she doesn't know what things would be whispered if she were seen with one, playing a game, late at night. Better to be in that sitting room, where no one really goes.

XxX

Katara shuffles the tiles in complete silence. They sit in the dead center of the expansive sitting room; open space and chairs all around them. She sees the slave's head turning to take in all of the room's finery. He doesn't seemed awed or curious, though. He seems more disgusted than anything.

She puts the tiles to the side of the board and they each draw seven, glancing through them before laying them face-down in front of them. Katara starts to make the first move when the slave says, "And the stakes?"

Katara sets a box of matches on the table.

The slave raises an eyebrow. "Matches?"

"What else would you have us play for?" she asks.

He shrugs and makes the first move.

Only half a dozen moves later, he wins. Katara frowns down at the board. She'd thought she could pick up some tricks from him, but all of his moves seemed entirely random.

She pushes her matches towards him and they play another game, and another, until all of the matches are on the slave's side.

"It's almost curfew," the slave says, starting to stand up.

Katara stands up too, irritated at her own inability. "Yes, it is."

* * *

><p>"There's two weeks left until the entry tests," Katara's father says across the table. Sokka sits on Katara's left, slurping his tea like he always does to avoid burning his mouth.<p>

"The public training blocks are filled to the brim," Katara says, sipping her own tea. The public training blocks are for training outside of scheduled hours under your assigned supervisor; in a separate, walled-in area of the palace's property, unlike the normal training blocks, which are part of the main walled-in space.

"How are your recruits doing?"

"They're doing well. I hope it's enough to impress Chief Arnook."

"They'll do fine," Sokka says between his slurping. "You've done a good job with them."

Katara flicks her wrist and his tongue freezes to his tea. "Thanks." She melts the tea when her father shoots her a smile-tinged glare.

"Only three weeks until I leave with them to the North."

"I know they'll be amazing."

Katara murmurs another _thank you _before taking a bite of her bread.

"Has General Arak's punishment been decided?" Sokka says.

Katara swallows. "Couldn't General Arak have been set up? Something tells me he wouldn't do this, Dad."

"I think he's going to be sentenced to life in prison. We didn't find any evidence suggesting he was set up or the arrows were stolen, but there was plenty of evidence that he sold it himself."

"This means Phoenix Fighters and the other rebel groups might end up with Water-quality weapons," Katara says.

"We have officers trying to trace the arrows. We should find them within the next few days and have it brought back."

"Or they could identify the arrows' movements and let it lead them to the rebels themselves."

Hakoda blinks once. "Yes. Of course."

* * *

><p>Katara is caught up in the buzz surrounding the circuit entry tests, even though she has no plans of participating, and in the final push to have her recruits in top form before their trip. Days melt together until it is only one week before the entry tests, and two weeks until the visit.<p>

Katara enters the kitchen for a glass of water late at night one day, finding it completely emptied per usual. Her father and brother never makes rounds of the kitchen at night. She starts to head towards the cabinets when she sees a lone figure seated at one of the tables in the corner, holding a cup of tea and a palmful of fire.

_A palmful of fire. _

"You're a firebender," she says accusingly.

The flames extinguish almost immediately and she is met with a brief scowl that eases into a mask of calmness. "I am."

"You should be in the forge," Katara says, resuming her walk towards the cabinets. Her voice is muffled as she stretches on her toes to reach for a cup. "All firebenders are needed in the forge."

"I'm doing fine here."

Katara glances at him as she fills her glass and he sips his tea calmly. She says, "A non-waterbender hiding their bending abilities in the presence of the Chief is a punishable offense."

"I'm aware."

She looks him over carefully. He looks too calm.

_He's assumed I won't tell anyone. _

Katara scowls because his assumption is right.

XxX

"Grain was stolen from warehouses in my father's assigned territory. Again. I'm starting to think there's no point in even guarding it. Father keeps saying that they're spread out too thin to do anything really well. Guard, defend," Leira says, nibbling on a cookie.

"I think your father's territory is one of the last to have the warehouses replaced with metal. The metal ones are doing well at withstanding robberies and riots."

"I don't get why they keep stealing like this. I mean, they're going to be caught and punished eventually. It's pathetic."

Katara sees movement in her periphery.

"What's _pathetic _ is how your soldiers treat the people. They only want to feed their children," the slave says, restrained anger in his voice.

Leira looks from the slave to Katara; her expression shocked. After a few moments, she says, "The grain is not theirs to take. It's property of the Water Empire, and no matter how you spin it, it's stealing."

"How else will the people sustain themselves? Your soldiers gorge themselves in mess halls with the people they're supposed to be helping watching starved."

"They can find a way other than stealing," Leira says evenly, and then looks back at Katara. "Katara, he's your property. Aren't you going to something?"

The slave's eyes turn to her and between that and Leira's words Katara feels more paralyzed than moved to action.

"You're killing off Fire and Earth people slowly but surely. What makes you better than the very Fire _monsters _you're claiming to save the world from?"

Leira is angry now. "For starters-"

"Leira, please," Katara says, holding up a hand, and then says to the slave, "Leave."

He turns and walks out the door without another word.

* * *

><p>Zuko looks down at the tiles in his hands, pretending not to see the glares that the girl is shooting at him. Letting her see him firebend; hell, firebending itself was a stupid, stupid move; a mistake Azula never would've made. A mistake that anyone with half a brain, for that matter, would never make.<p>

He didn't expect it to be so damn _cold _here. But if the girl hasn't reported him yet, the odds say she won't report him at all. Besides, she's known to have a soft spot, isn't she?

They play in silence for a few minutes, anger etched into the girl's every movement. He waits for her to speak, and when she does, she says, "You have nerve."

"Meaning?" he says, taking his turn. She moves her tile quickly after he moves his and he suppresses a smirk. She keeps falling into the same traps.

"You're a firebender. My father doesn't know it, the chefs don't know it, nobody but me in this palace knows it. And then, in front of that same person, you speak out of turn and argue with the daughter of a well-respected General."

He puts down a tile and her hands move towards her daisy tile to make the move that will secure his win. "You might not want to do that," Zuko says, and the girl's gaze snaps up to his face, full of fury. She shoves the tile.

He makes the last move and wins. She clenches her fingers.

"I could have you whipped."

"Yes."

"I should have you whipped."

He says nothing.

She sighs and he knows she's let it go. Her hands move quickly to move the tiles back into their starting positions and shuffle the rest and deal them.

"I'm moving you to the forge after I return from the North."

"Of course," Zuko says, looking down at his tiles. Not a bad hand. He'll probably win. He glances up at the girl. "The stakes this time? Matches weren't exactly terribly exciting to play for."

"Can't you just leave it at a simple game?"

"Having something at risk makes everything more interesting."

The girl rolls her eyes, but she mulls it over silently for a minute. Zuko starts to tap out an irregular rhythm on the arm of his chair, and the girl finally says, "The winner gets to ask the other person one question."

"People lie all of the time."

She shrugs. "We'll just have to trust each other, won't we?"

"I guess so," Zuko says, and places a tile.

Zuko wins.

The girl purses her lips. "Well, go on," she nearly spits at him.

Zuko fiddles with the tile in his hand. What could he possibly ask her that would be of use to him? The location of their weapon stores? The weaknesses in the palace's defenses? He almost laughs at himself.

He goes with, "Why aren't you already in the military?"

Water Empire citizens are officially allowed to enlist at sixteen, if Zuko's right, although most wait until eighteen to give them an edge in the circuit entry tests, whatever those are. Zuko's only heard whispers about them throughout the Earth territories and speculation from some less-than-careful soldiers. The Chief's daughter, however, from all of his dinners listening in on nobility's conversations, has no plans to become a soldier.

Her eyes narrow. "The military is not for me," she says, clipped.

"That's not a real answer."

"I don't think I ever set rules for how long or short the answers need to be."

"If I had replied like that, would you be satisfied?"

She closes her eyes briefly and says, "I don't particularly like the idea of being stationed in an Earth colony when I can be helping from right here. Besides, the military is my brother's thing. Not mine."

"You're supposed to be a good fighter," Zuko says. Maybe Lady Katara's famed skills are a farce?

Her eyes harden. "I was a master waterbender at the age of twelve. My problem is not with my ability to fight. It's with what I would be doing if I were in the military."

She sets up a new game and they play again. The game goes on for longer this time and the girl seems even more determined to win. Agni must have been on her side, because Zuko is left staring at the tiles turned in her favor, his lips forming a thin line. There's a triumphant gleam in the girl's eyes.

"What's your story?" she asks almost immediately.

"My story," Zuko repeats. "Why would you want to know the story of a Fire slave?"

"You're... _strange_," she says, and then adds, "Don't answer a question with a question."

Zuko shrugs. "I'd lived in the Earth territories my entire life. My mother left me when I was young, my father died shortly after, and then I lived with my uncle, who disappeared a few years ago. I was on the run ever since. And now I'm here."

There's a few moments of silence as if the girl expects him to say more, but she quickly realizes he isn't going to and starts rearranging the tiles.

* * *

><p>xxx<p>

* * *

><p>(AN): This AU is heavily inspired by _The Winner's Curse _by Marie Rutkoski. Amazing book by the way; check it out if you have the time. There'll probably be three or four parts to this story. Thanks for reading!


	2. part II

entwine: part II

* * *

><p><em>i want to be back on the ground <em>

_where my feet touch my shadow_

_-the driver/ bastille_

* * *

><p>"Lady Katara," a voice says, and Katara briefly tears her eyes away from her girls to look behind her. Something in her deflates slightly when she sees it's Sangok.<p>

"Sangok. It's good to see you," she says, glancing towards her troop and then back at Sangok. "Is there any way I can help you?"

"Yes, actually. A group of my friends and I were wondering if we could use this training block after you're finished."

"Are they already in the palace?" Katara asks.

"No, I wouldn't bring everyone before getting your permission."

Sangok's the son of General Ahnan, who was sent by Chief Arnook to the South nearly a decade ago to help rebuild the South's military after a particularly bad year of dealing with rebels. The guards at the palace's gate would've let Sangok in with no questions asked.

"Of course. We still have a week, but the entry tests are tomorrow. You can have it now."

Although Katara doesn't particularly like Sangok, she's met his friends and they're nice enough, and she doesn't want to be unfair to them. The public training blocks are probably full beyond capacity.

He bends at the waist. "Thank you. You'll be attending the celebration tonight, yes?"

"I can't really avoid it," Katara says good-naturedly, and Sangok laughs politely.

As per tradition, there's a huge celebration the evening before the circuit entry tests start. All military families show up; generals, lieutenants, admirals. It's the biggest gathering of the year next to Firstwinter, which is usually hosted by the family of a general. For Firstwinter, non-military citizens are also invited, like merchants, engineers, and highly-regarded healers.

If Katara's not mistaken, Sangok's family is hosting it this year.

Katara's whistle shrills. "Everyone come in! We're heading inside into the training chambers!"

"It's a shame you're not trying for the military," Sangok says once her troops have lined up.

Katara's eyes narrow. She knows people whisper about this all through the South and North; a fact that's not lost to Sangok. _How can the South push for women in the North to fight when the Southern Chief's own daughter won't fight? _What was the point of bringing it up?

"My priority right now is to train these girls so that women in the North can have the same chance I do," Katara says carefully. "I could always join the military later on."

"Still," Sangok says, and then seems to mentally shake his head. "Thanks again."

"No problem."

Once back in the palace, Katara shouts out orders with more fervor than usual.

* * *

><p>"You're shaking," Katara says to Leira. They both wear gowns in the same pale green-blue color, except that Leira's is a few shades lighter, complementing her fairer hair and complexion.<p>

Her voice is barely audible over the chatter in the palace's ballroom. There's an intoxicating buzz of excitement and anticipation running through the crowds.

"The circuit tests seem so much closer now," Leira says, waving to friends of theirs that pass by in trios and pairs.

"Well, they are starting in less than fourteen hours," Katara says, and Leira shoots her a mock-glare.

"You sure know how to suck the tension right out of someone," she says drily, and Katara laughs. Music starts to play and Katara curtsies in front of Leira, holding out a hand. Leira takes it after pretending to turn her nose up at Katara.

They spin around on the dance floor, going through at least a dozen partners that range from other girls like Alena, privates, and a slightly tipsy Sokka before they find each other again.

"Looks like your brother had some ice wine," Leira says over the din.

Katara sighs. "I hope he didn't share it with anyone. We don't need the entrants to come to their tests with coordination issues." The drinks served are strictly limited to water and different fruit juices, but someone always finds a way to bring in alcohol.

"If they're stupid enough to drink the day before the tests, I think you wouldn't want them in the military anyway," Leira says, and then starts looking around. "Let's go eat."

Katara lets her pull them along to the edges of the ballroom, where tables of food are set-up. Katara looks around and sees that everyone who looks about her age is eating careful amounts. It's like the celebration is a test in itself.

"Hey, isn't that the slave who spoke out before?" Leira says, the hand putting orange slices on her plate stilling. She gestures with her head somewhere behind Katara.

Katara turns around and sees the scarred servant, putting down a tray of clean glasses.

"Yeah," Katara says, puzzled. "Why?"

Leira resumes filling her plate. "I don't know, just saying. Did you ever say anything to him?"

_Well, I played Pai Sho with him, if that counts, and sort-of threatened him._

"I told him not to speak out of turn like that again. What else could I do?"

Leira's eyebrows crease briefly but then her expression eases. "Yeah, it wasn't that big of a deal." She looks around and brightens when she recognizes someone. "Hey, look. It's Marra; we should go say hi to her." Then her gaze drifts to over Katara's shoulder and Leira's lips turn in a small smile.

"Actually, I think I'll go to the bathroom," she says, and disappears.

"What? Leira!" Katara calls, bewildered, and then turns around. Roan stands behind her.

"A dance?" he says, holding out a hand. Music for a traditional Southern dance is starting up.

Katara takes his hand. They step and twist around each other quickly, Katara almost tripping over her own dress in the process.

"You look beautiful, as always," he says, laughing with her and steadying her as she stumbles on a step.

"Thank you," she says, feeling heat blossom on her cheeks. "I'm not exactly the best dance partner. Are you sure you don't want to switch me out for someone else?"

"Never," Roan says, and she has to look away at the seriousness in his eyes.

* * *

><p>Katara feels tendrils of nervousness the next morning, even though she'll only be watching people run the circuit tests. Her stomach keeps twisting even through breakfast and Sokka asks her twice if she's going to eat.<p>

"You look like you're going to be running the test yourself," Sokka comments, halfway through his third jam sandwich. Katara doesn't say anything and takes an uneasy bite from her own sandwich. Realization dawns on him slowly. "That again, Katara? You know nobody cares that you're not joining the military."

Katara sets down her toast. "Don't lie. Enough people care."

"But that doesn't mean _you _should care. I've watched you train your recruits and put all of your time and energy into them. You've done a great thing," he says. "Just remember that."

"It's still not enough in most people's eyes."

"Forget them," Sokka says, waving his half-eaten bread in the air. "Keep doing what you're doing and anyone who doubts you will see your worth soon enough."

Katara smiles weakly and resists the urge to hug her brother from across the table. "Thanks, Sokka."

"Eh, just pass me the jar of strawberry preserves," he says with a smile.

XxX

The circuit entry tests are _loud _as always. There's always a special training-block type space built for the tests, the obstacles and contents changed every year, with space to stand at the sides and an area for potential recruits to wait. One after another, entrants run the long course, testing their strength, agility, and flexibility, and then facing off with a master at the end of the course. Hand-to-hand with weapons for non-benders, and both bending and hand-to-hand for benders.

There are times for the obstacle part being shouted through a megaphone and bouts of cheering for whoever's running the circuit, along with the chatter of the crowd. Katara herself applauds and yells until her hands are red and her throat aches. She's especially loud whenever she recognizes one of her friends; blowing Leira a kiss and waving like an idiot at Roan once it's their turns.

Leira's time, Katara's sure, puts her in at least the top six. She watches the scribes furiously scribblings down as the timetakers bark out numbers. Roan's time must have put him at the very top, or at least second.

"You were _amazing!_" Katara says, running to Leira as soon as she's off the course. Katara squeezes out what little air is left in her friend.

"Thanks," she pants. "Do you have water?"

Katara hands her a bottle just as the crowds start going wild again; almost as much as they did for Roan and Leira.

"Who?" Leira says breathlessly.

Katara looks towards the start of the circuit. "Sangok, I think."

Leira gives up on trying to drink the water and douses her face with it before bending over, both hands on her knees. "Updates," she says clipped, still trying to catch her breath.

Sangok is flying through the course. The cheers crescendo as he jumps, twists, and climbs with an almost inhuman grace and fluidity.

"He's doing really, really well," Katara says with grudging admiration. Leira straightens at Katara's tone.

"No kidding," she says once she spots him in the course. "He looks like he's going faster than Roan."

Katara briefly looks at the opposite crowd and sees Roan standing with a group of friends, watching Sangok complete the circuit with narrowed eyes.

The shouts and yells peak when Sangok lands the four required hits on the masters in record time. The cheers morph into applause as Leira says, "That definitely wasn't luck. Or a fluke."

"He's good," Katara says.

XxX

Later that night, the crowds are packed tightly in the circuit test area, the obstacles and tracks long moved, and a makeshift stage of ice raised a foot off the ground at the front. Katara and Sokka stand by their father as he reads off the names of the hundred-some new recruits.

"And the first of the top ten recruits," he says once the latest recruit has walked off the stage. "Taran Enlow!"

Katara claps and smiles as Taran, a rather short but sturdily built boy, walks on stage and salutes the crowd.

"In ninth position, Yuan Tiro."

"In eighth, Lia Qin."

Katara zones out for the next few places, her hands automatically moving to clap at the appropriate times, until she hears, "And in fourth position, Leira Innow!"

Katara grins at Leira as she passes. Roan comes in second.

"And for the top recruit," Hakoda says, trailing off and letting the crowd quiet. An immediate hush falls over everyone.

"Sangok Ahnan!"

Hollering and mad applause from the crowd. Sangok bides his time coming up onto the stage, bowing first to Hakoda and then saluting the crowd and bowing again.

Once the clapping has faded, Hakoda says, "As per tradition, top twenty recruits will be informed of which leadership position they'll be shadowing in about four months at Firstwinter. Take this time to celebrate, because training will start again in two days' time!"

* * *

><p>"We need more chia seeds from the market!" one of the chefs shouts.<p>

Zuko looks over his shoulder at him. _This is his chance._

"I'll go," he volunteers. "I've finished peeling the potatoes."

The chef waves him towards the door. "There'll be a lot of people in the market today. Circuit entry test celebrations and all. Be as quick as possible."

"Of course," Zuko says, wiping his hands on a rag. He just hopes that Rey hasn't given up on him.

The guards at the palaces' gates let him through after a brief interrogation about what he's going for. But they're in a good mood like everyone seems to be today and they let him off quickly, not even specifying a return time like they usually would.

Zuko walks down the icy paths, edged with snowbanks, until he reaches the main city and the market. It is brimming with activity, as promised, and as long as Zuko keeps his head slightly ducked he won't catch as many stares as he usually would.

He asks for directions to Kelen's noodle shop once he's in the heart of the market, and a kind old lady who looks pure Fire, and is therefore a slave, points him in the right direction.

"Thank you," he says to her, bowing slightly in the way you would have to Fire royals, and he sees the faintest flash of recognition in her eyes. She's old and probably remembers the Fire Nation more than him, even though he's the one of royal blood. He had to be taught the gesture while the woman probably knew it from practice.

"Good morning," Zuko says to the middle-aged man at the counter of the noodle shop. Zuko waits until the light hits the man's eyes and he can confirm they're amber, before saying, "I'd like a quarter box order of spicy rice noodles with cashews and peanuts."

The man does a double-take and studies Zuko silently for a few moments before saying, "I'll have Ley take care of your order." He disappears into a curtain at the back of the counter, shouting for Ley.

"_What?" _Zuko hears RLey shout back, and he smiles smally at the familiar voice.

"How can I help-" Ley starts to say, pushing aside the curtain, but he pauses upon seeing Zuko; eyes widening.

"Zuko? I thought you'd never come around!" Ley says, and Zuko quickly hushes him, and allows the younger boy to pull him into an embrace.

"Well, you've grown up," Zuko says, stepping out of Ley's embrace.

Ley traces a line between the top of his forehead to the top of Zuko's forehead like he would when they were kids. "We're practically the same height."

Zuko allows himself to smile.

"I'll try to find more ways to get out of the palace from now on, but I don't have much time now. Any updates?"

Ley keeps a smile on his face, pulling out a tattered menu. He leans in towards it and Zuko does the same. "Phoenix Fighters have gotten the arrows secured in one of our camps. Our numbers are in the thousands now."

"What about here?"

"I think we have almost a thousand."

Maids, servers, shopkeepers, poor merchants, chefs, cooks, nannies. All Fire; all potential rebels.

"What do I need to do?"

"Weapons. There's no way to break into the palace's stores except on the day itself. We need small, concealable weapons."

"I'm in the kitchens right now, but I'm being moved to the forge soon enough."

Ley curses. "They weren't supposed to know you're a firebender. What were you thinking?"

"I didn't _tell _them I was a firebender, I was-"

"Who saw you?"

"Lady Katara."

Some of the concern seeps out of Ley's eyes. "Okay, okay. This might work out in our favor, actually. Do you have any information?"

"I've... talked to her as well. The blame for the arrows is secured on General Arak."

"You talked to the Chief's daughter?" Ley whistles lowly. "This is gold! How'd you do it?"

"By Agni's luck," Zuko replies. His next words are halting, "I'll see if I can get anything useful out of her."

"You talk to her.. regularly?"

Zuko suddenly wishes he hadn't mentioned her. "Sort of."

"Take good advantage of this."

"Are all other details the same?"

Ley nods. "The exact day we agreed on should be good. The Fire Nation will rise from its ashes."

"It will rise like a phoenix," Zuko echoes, pointing at something on the menu. "One order, please. And do you know where I can get chia seeds?"

* * *

><p>"<em>Go to the tailor with Leira at seven,<em>" the slave is reading off of the paper jutting out of the leather-bound notebook Katara had tossed next to the Pai Sho board. "It look like you have some place to go, doesn't it?" he says.

Katara is taken aback. He can read. He sees the surprise flit across her face and says, "My uncle taught me. It's not that rare of a sight."

"It's still unusual for a slave to be able to read. Especially since you said you were on the move so much," Katara says, feeling embarrassment override her initial reaction.

"Like I said, my uncle taught me," the slave says, looking bored.

"The reminder's for tomorrow," Katara says, drawing her hand. He does the same.

They play in silence. This is something that at first slightly unnerved Katara but now feels comfortable. She feels herself growing used to the slave's quiet company; a break from the hecticness of the palace.

The slave wins and Katara wonders why she even tries.

He looks at a point above Katara's shoulder; considering. Katara fidgets.

"Why do you always have the same pendant on you?" he asks finally.

Katara's fingers automatically go to her collarbone, and then to her wrist when she realizes she'd worn it on a bracelet today.

"It was my mother's," she says, and that should be enough but something makes her continue and she adds, "She died when I was eight. Having this makes me feel... _closer _to her, I guess."

She thinks that is that but he speaks outside of their question-and-answer, and says quietly, "She was killed by rebels, wasn't she?"

Katara is so startled that the answers leaves her lips before she can think. "Yes. She was."

"That's one thing we have in common, then."

"Meaning?"

"We've both had our mothers taken away from us."

"I guess we have," she says, about to set up a new game, but then says suddenly, "I never bothered to ask you your name."

"Zuko," the slave replies.

"Zuko," Katara repeats, the syllables strange on her tongue. It fits him, though; a strange name for a strange-looking boy. "Well, let's play another game, Zuko."

* * *

><p>Katara loses herself in training. Her father even lets her be excused from most of the celebratory dinners held throughout the week so that she can catch up on sleep or plan out things that she's going to say.<p>

The one dinner, however, that he won't have her miss is the one with General Ahnan's family and the families of few admirals.

"Sangok was top recruit," he says. "You can't miss this one, out of all of them."

Katara sighs. "I know, I know. His mother's not exactly the best either." She'll probably have something about Katara's _laziness _and _ill manners _spread around by the next morning if Katara isn't there.

Hakoda pretends to shudder.

XxX

As always, the scarred slave - _Zuko, _Katara corrects herself- is sent out to serve tea. General Ahnan and an admiral are laughing at something that Hakoda is saying, and Katara tries to participate in the ladies' conversation; which, after a few pointed looks from Sangok's mother, turns mostly into laughing and nodding along at appropriate times.

After tea, Hakoda suggests everyone move into the sitting room, where delicate glasses of ice wine are brought out.

"To Sangok's success in the military," Katara's father says, raising his glass. Everyone follows suit.

"And Lady Katara's success in her upcoming visit to the North," Sangok adds. Katara smiles at him in thanks but the small smirk that his mother wears at the words make the toast seem more mocking than anything.

Katara sits through more gossip (here she pays attention because Leira will want to know about whatever they're saying), trying to be as quiet as possible so that the women feel freer to talk. She hears about someone's daughter's choice of Firstwinter gown, who they think will be getting married soon, who might be having a child.

Katara is zoning out when one of the admiral's wives says to her, "And you, Katara? Anyone special?" she asks teasingly.

"Oh- um, no. Not yet, at least," she says.

"Not even General Rey's son? Roan, right? He cuts a fine figure, doesn't he?"

Katara blushes at the thought of being with _anyone. _"No."

"She's turning red; we should stop," the wife laughs, and the other women shoot each other knowing glances.

Katara tries not to scowl and tries to look sheepish instead, waving off their guesses. Let them think she might marry someone. At least that'll stop the whispers of her being strange for not being a soldier.

Either become a wife or join the military. Do neither and you're seen as nothing.

Katara is relieved when the guests start to trickle out. Sangok's mother excuses herself and leaves with the admirals' wives while Sangok and his father stay behind with Sokka and her own father. Katara excuses herself as well and leaves to the kitchen for a glass of water.

The slave (_Zuko) _is washing dishes at the sink, his back turned towards her. She watches him absently as she downs her water. She sees the way he uses firebending somehow - by raising his body temperature?- to make the dishes dry unnaturally fast. You wouldn't pick up on it unless you knew he was a bender from before.

"You looked miserable," he says without turning around, a hint of amusement in his voice.

Katara bends a rivulet of water from the tap and cleans out her glass with it before handing it to him. He holds the glass for a few seconds and the water evaporates off of it.

"I wasn't exactly with ideal company," Katara says.

He looks over at her, and Katara realizes this is the first time she's really stood side-by-side with him. He has to cast his eyes down to meet hers; making her feel small.

"They're ridiculous," he says, and then turns his attention back to the dishes. "I know more than an appropriate amount about Firstwinter trends now, and it's still almost four months away, isn't it?"

"Enough to please the snottiest of Southern ladies?"

He pretends to consider it for a moment, but before he can answer, Katara hears from behind her, "What pleases the Southern ladies?"

Katara doesn't turn around and instead replaces the dried glass in a cupboard. "I doubt you'd know, Sangok, since you can't seem to interest any." She hears a sound from the slave (Zuko, his name is Zuko) that might be half of a laugh.

When there's no reply she turns around to look at him and smiles pleasantly, saying, "I was only joking."

"I know, I know," he says, waving it off. "Anyway, I came to say goodbye. Thank you for the dinner, Lady Katara."

He looks pointedly from Katara to Zuko and Katara's eyes narrow. "You're welcome, of course. Good evening."

He bends at the waist, his left hand touched to his right fist. "Good evening," he repeats, casting one last glance over at Zuko.

* * *

><p>They are welcomed to the North by swathes of cheering young women at the harbor, and Katara grins at the sight. All of these girls could join the military because of what Katara's doing. For the first time, some of the doubt Katara has had in herself lifts.<p>

"Welcome, Katara," a warm voice says, and Katara rushes to meet the man in the middle.

"Pakku," she says, hugging him around the middle. "It's so good to see you."

"Well, I suppose it's good to see you too," he says, pulling back and gesturing at the people around them. "Your push has caused quite a rift in the North. Half of the people still think women shouldn't be allowed to fight and half of them are with your idea."

"I have a lot of people to convince," Katara says. She hadn't thought much about the _spoken _part of this initiative, because it was easier to throw herself into physical training. But now she imagines the rows of Northern nobility she'll have to talk to and, at the head of them, Chief Arnook.

She hopes Princess Yue will be there.

Katara sees a flash of white hair in her periphery and suddenly she's being hugged again, and she immediately knows it's the princess herself.

"Long time no see," she says, smiling.

Yue smiles back. "Let's get you and your troop to the palace. We'll talk over dinner. Two days at sea probably takes some of the life out of you, huh?"

Katara glances back at her troop; all of them looking wobbly. "A little bit," she admits.

XxX

"How can the men in the military be expected to rely on a _woman _in combat?"

Katara glances over at Yue, who smiles encouragingly.

"The same way men rely on women to cook their food, take care of their kids, and arrange parties. It's a simple matter of trust, sir, and if your men don't know how to _trust _in a human being who is on the same side as them, I think there's deeper issues to be taken care of."

"Women, however, Lady Katara, are more easily swayed by emotions."

"Do men not feel at all?" Katara says, not even needing to look to Yue for strength now. Their arguments are getting more and more ridiculous. She walks around the horseshoe table that she is standing in the middle of. "Have you never felt fear?" She asks one of them, and then continues around. "Have you never felt dread or sadness? The notion that female soldiers will start running off battlefields and away from commitments because of _emotions _is ridiculous. They know what they have signed up for like any other soldier."

"How will families be impacted?" another man asks. "Women are needed to maintain their homes."

"We have families in the South that are perfectly fine with both parents in the military. If the father is gone, the mother can take of the children, and if the mother is gone, the father can take care of the children. If nothing else, everyone has nannies and maids. The children will not suffer."

"And the differences in physical strength and combat skills? It is hard to believe women will be able to keep up with men."

Katara allows herself a small smile. "In the South's circuit entry tests, out of the top ten recruits, five were girls. We have four female generals and six female admirals, selected by my father himself. And if that is not evidence enough, I have trained a troop of girls myself who will fight with whatever troop of boys you can throw at us and they will, I assure you, keep up."

Chief Arnook clears his throat. "Very well. Let's go outside to the training areas. Master Pakku will be bringing his best and brightest students."

XxX

Five hours and more than three dozen spars later, Katara's girls still look ready for more, and they've won or tied most of the fights.

Katara beams at the grudging admiration in the nobles' eyes.

* * *

><p>"Hey, little sister," Sokka says, engulfing Katara in a hug and drawing out the <em>hey. <em>"How was it?"

Katara grins up at him through her sleepiness. She's sent all of the girls straight home after their two day voyage back. "Pretty great."

He lifts her up into his arms again. "Didn't I tell you it'd go amazing?"

"You _might _have," Katara says, looking over to her father approaching. Hakoda embraces her as well.

"I heard your girls did well. I'm proud of you," he says, and Katara feels pride bubbling in her chest.

"Thank you, Dad."

* * *

><p>Katara talks to both the forge master and the chefs the next day. The forge master is thrilled to have another slave on board ("We've been short on labor") and the chefs are less than thrilled to have their now-prized tea server taken away from them.<p>

"You have plenty of hands in the kitchen," Katara points out, and then lies, "I knew he was a firebender before, but I only put him here because I thought there was extra help needed. I now realize the forge can make much better use of a firebender than the kitchen."

If the chefs could argue with her, Katara's sure they would have protested, but they only say- albeit grudgingly- "Of course, Lady Katara."

* * *

><p>With her visit to the North done, Katara suddenly has more free time than she knows what to do with, and with most of her friends in training, she starts helping with training the new recruits from the circuit tests.<p>

Everyday, she wakes at about dawn, has breakfast with her brother and father, and heads out to the training blocks. The first few times she's there, she feels everyone's gazes judging her. _She should be standing with us, not training us, _but after that everyone seems to warm up to her. She devises training exercises and spars with the recruits; everyone's started placing bets on who will beat her first.

If seasons existed in the South Pole, it would've been almost mid-autumn, when anywhere else in the world, colorful leaves would be crunching underfoot; leaving tree branches half-bare. In the South, it just means that it's getting colder than usual.

One morning she has breakfast with Leira in the main dining hall.

"Did you hear that General Taraq committed suicide?" Katara asks. Her father told her the news the day before and it still hasn't settled well.

"What_? _No, why would he do that?"

"It was an honor suicide," Katara says, which means that he fell on his own sword. "I just don't understand what would push him to it. He wasn't in the middle of danger or anything."

"He was helping govern the Anise territory, right?"

They drift onto the topic of some fight that a cousin of Leira's had with another one of their cousins, and Katara tries to forget the news about General Taraq.

Everything falls into a routine, and Katara's days seem to become one huge blur of time. The one thing that comes into focus, though, is when Katara goes into the kitchen late at night one day and finds a Pai Sho tile face down, tucked neatly into the cupboard with glasses.

XxX

"I was starting to think you wouldn't want to play against someone you can't beat," Zuko says, leaning back in his chair.

"Not all all." The girl looks up at him briefly. "I've been busy."

"Of course," he says, and then they both draw their hands and play in quiet concentration. Half way through, he looks up and says, with confusion- as if he can't believe the words are coming out of his mouth- "You're distracted."

"I've been busy," she repeats.

He says, more frustration at himself lacing his voice, "But that's not what's bothering you."

"No, it's not," she says, and he waits for a while; not taking his turn. Eventually, she says, "One of the generals stationed in Anise territory- you know it, right?- committed suicide."

He waits for her to go on.

"It doesn't make sense. He had everything to live for. A beautiful wife back at home, kids, power, money. Why would he take his own life?"

"Everyone has inner troubles," Zuko says.

"Still. With General Arak's scandal so close to this... that didn't make sense either. General Arak liked to pinch things off for money, sure, but he's always been careful. He'd never risk his position in such a huge way. Together... it doesn't add up."

"You don't know everything," Zuko says dismissively. "What makes you think you know the inner workings of every man's heart? People are unhappy for many different reasons."

"Except both happened so close to each other."

"They had nothing to do with each other. General Arak was in Ginleng, right? That's three days' journey away from Anise."

Katara says nothing and gestures for him to take his turn.

As expected, he wins.

"I'd like to go into the city," Zuko says.

She raises an eyebrow. "That's your question?"

"Can I go into the city?" Zuko amends.

"Why?" the girls asks. "I can't just let you go for no reason."

Zuko tries to make himself blush. "I have... someone that I'd like to meet."

The girl looks at him quizzically for a few moments before understanding dawns on her. "Oh," she says simply, and then her gaze turns more calculating. She looks at him without really looking at him, probably trying to figure out when he'd have the time to have met this person or reconciled with them.

"I was in the slave auctioneer's holding pens for a while before I was sold to your father," Zuko says, cutting her train of thought.

"You can go," the girl says after a while, slipping off a ring from her middle finger. "Take my seal ring and nobody will bother you."

* * *

><p>"You've gotten her seal ring?" Ley asks, raising an eyebrow at the metal around Zuko's middle finger.<p>

Zuko ignores him. "I've made about a hundred small blades and daggers."

"A hundred? You need to be more careful."

"I _am _careful. No one's noticed yet because I've been filling the steward's orders on time and used scrap metal, mostly. I doubt they'd check to see if scrap iron and steel has gone missing."

"Good. How will you get them to me?"

"There's a spot outside of the wall on the slaves' quarters side that's rarely patrolled. If you go there by tomorrow evening everything will be thrown over the wall."

"How do you know this?"

"Believe it or not, I've made some friends with the other slaves. All it took was a bit of asking around."

* * *

><p>The next time, Katara goes to Zuko.<p>

She's sat through a meeting with her father, brother, and some of Hakoda's most trusted generals, discussing Generals Arak and Taraq. Sangok had been there as well; as top recruit, he was supposed to be slowly exposed to palace issues, and Hakoda had said that this was the best way to start. With an issue that's already been discussed to death in the South, so that nothing's put at risk by having him. If anything, Sangok will probably spread around what is discussed and set things that have blown out of proportion straight.

Something about the... condescending look he had in his eyes whenever he looked at Katara rubbed her the wrong way. She never really liked Sangok, and that holds especially true now.

_A light distraction, _she tells herself. A game will keep her mind off of everything.

She goes to the palace's forgery and looks among the rows of slaves hammering at metal and recognizes Zuko's form from the back, lifting an anvil. He's taking a sheet of metal and using firebending to heat it up and smooths out parts of it with his fingertips.

"Yes?" he says, without turning around.

"I thought we could play a game," Katara says. Her eyes linger a moment too long at his back; at the way his shirt is clinging to his skin.

There are a few moments of silence as he considers something, but finally, he says, "I'll come in when I'm done with this. What room?"

Her father had moved the generals, Sangok, and Sokka into the sitting room when she left. Where could they go now?

"Come upstairs to my study. Ask someone to show the way, and if they say anything, tell them I sent for you."

XxX

Katara fills in some schedules as she waits, her pen scratching across long sheets of parchment. A knock sounds at her door and Zuko comes in without Katara saying anything, a female servant Katara thinks she has seen in the kitchen by his side. She bows slightly to Katara before leaving. Zuko slides into the chair opposite to her with ease. He's bathed and someone put him in house clothes.

He looks relaxed in the study. Then again, he also looked relaxed in the kitchen, the forge, the sitting room. Like he can belong anywhere.

"That's a book of Fire stories," he says, gesturing towards a leather-bound book on Katara's desk. Katara picks it up.

"I used to read these when I was little," she says. The Fire fairytales were so different from the Water versions; filled with fighting and duels and people who could create flames as bright as the sun. Her name is etched into the top corner of the cover in childish writing.

"May I?" he says, and Katara hands it to him. He reads the etching on the cover first, "Katara," her name sounding strange coming from him. It's the first time he's said it, she realizes. He flips through the pages, a faraway look coming into his eyes as he skims the stories.

"You can keep it," Katara says, and he glances up at her, closing the book. He hesitates, but nods.

Suddenly, Katara has a better idea.

"Let's spar," she says.

He barely reacts. "Where would be spar?"

"There's training chambers under the palace. We can use one of those," Katara says, and then adds, "Of course, we don't have to. You must be tired."

But there's a new light in his eyes and he shakes his head. "No, let's go."

XxX

Zuko follows Katara down a few flights of stairs, until they come into a broad hallway with four doors. Katara pushes open the second one and the chamber is empty.

The room is high-ceilinged and lit by lanterns that are mounted to the walls, strategically placed so that every part of the chamber is brightly lit, reflecting off of the white walls. There is a rack of weapons also mounted to the wall that has everything from blunt daggers to wooden blades and dao swords.

Zuko itches to use the dao swords; his weapon of choice in places where he couldn't firebend openly. How long has it been since he's held his own dao swords?

There are four pots of water in the room; one in each corner.

"I'll only be allowed to use the two pots on my side," Katara says, moving towards them and taking off the lids. "Usually, there would be two for each opponent." The pots on Zuko's side stay with their lids on.

They both get into fighting stances. Katara throws the first attack.

It's a waterwhip that comes at him with surprising speed and he's almost too slow to deflect it. He thrusts his fist in the water's direction and after a burst of flames, it evaporates immediately. Katara reforms the steam into water and strikes again, this time with a ring of water that comes hurling straight at Zuko's throat. He ducks and rolls, kicking out with an arc of fire. It's strange to be firebending so openly.

They begin trading blows in earnest.

Katara quickly gains the advantage, pushing back on him with water and ice. He deflects as best as he can, his forms and movements slightly clumsy from being out of practice. Besides, he was never the prodigy, was he? That was his sister.

Katara manages to land a direct hit on him after about thirty minutes and the spar is over. The room is filled with steam, making the air muggy, and they both bend over for a few minutes, trying to catch their breath.

"Not... bad," she says in between taking gulps of air. She straightens for a few moments and goes through some waterbending form, her movements graceful, and the air immediately becomes clearer. She bends a stream of water back into one of the pots.

"I should go to the slave quarters," Zuko says, and she nods, following him back out the way they came in.

"Katara!" They're at the juncture where Katara parts to go back upstairs to her room and Zuko goes the opposite way to the slaves' quarters. He glances quickly at Katara, recognizing the voice as the boy from before... Sangok?

"Leave," Katara says under her breath, and he disappears.

"Everyone was having tea so they sent me to look for you, and a servant told me they saw you coming here so," Sangok says, trailing off; taking in her frizzed hair and dishevelled clothes. His gaze goes to Zuko's turned back, moving farther away steadily. "You were with the slave?" He says it pleasantly.

"Yes," Katara says, clipped. "My apologies, but I'm really tired right now. I'm sorry for making you come all the way out here to find me."

She leaves before he can say anything else.

* * *

><p>"Come on, Leira, can't I at least have <em>sleeves?<em>" Katara says, frowning down at the designs laid out on the bed. There's a rainbow of fabric swatches on the bed, in everything from pale purples to muted silvers and golds. "It's First_winter_, remember?"

"You always dress too modestly," Leira says, leafing through some more pages. Katara takes a seat on Leira's bed, watching her. "I guess that's what happens when you live with two military men."

"I dress just fine," Katara says defensively. She points at a too-low neckline. "You'd have me wear that?"

Leira wiggles her eyebrows suggestively. "Roan might appreciate it."

"_Leira!_" Katara recoils, flushing. "That's your _brother _you're talking about!"

Leira suddenly turns serious. "Wouldn't it be nice, though, Katara; if we could be sisters?"

"We already are," Katara says, avoiding her main point.

"_Real _sisters." At Katara's expression, Leira says, "Don't act like you don't know. Roan's always liked you."

"I don't know," Katara says. But what is there not to like about Roan? He's kind, well-liked by everyone, not hard to look at, and, most importantly, never sees Katara as anything less than an equal, no matter what she does. "Maybe someday."

Leira makes a victorious noise.

"Don't you dare say anything to him. It's not like I'm ready to be married just yet."

"My lips are sealed," she says. They look silently through the designs, matching fabrics to sketches, and then Leira says hesitantly, "You know, most of society's talking about that slave."

"Which slave?" Katara says casually, but her heart stops for a moment. Why are people talking about Zuko?

"You know which slave. You gave your seal ring to him. What were you thinking, Katara? A lot of nobles saw him with it in the market."

"He wanted to go into the city so I gave him permission. The seal ring was just so that he wouldn't be stopped," Katara says.

"Sangok says that you're close with him. Is that true?"

Katara turns sharply. "Sangok? Who is he to say anything about me?"

"You know he's at the palace more often now. He said he saw you with the slave more than a few times."

Katara pales slightly. "Who has he said this to?"

"It's probably spread to everyone, Katara. That's why I'm telling you. Why do you spend so much time with him anyway?"

"I've played a few games of Pai Sho with him and sparred with him once. That's all," Katara says.

Leira sighs. "I can try to fix this for you. Find someone else to play Pai Sho with. Roan would be more than willing."

XxX

Katara finds that Leira was too kind with her assessment. She hushes people when she walks past them in the markets and draws whispers from the recruits when she shows up for training. She hadn't noticed it before because it wasn't as prevalent, but now she's overly conscious of eyes and mouths following her.

That day when Sangok had been looking for her for tea. It must have added fuel to the fire.

Even her father and Sokka look like they want to say something to her for a few days, but Leira, as promised, tries to find a way to fix it and her way must be working, because people seem to at least partially move on.

Katara can breath easier again.

XxX

Days pass by like the blur from before. Wake up. Eat breakfast. Train. Eat lunch. Train. Eat dinner. Sleep. There is no tile to bring her out of the blur.

* * *

><p>She's assigned to spar with people from Sangok's troop. Word must have spread of her being difficult to beat and she shows up to the right training block in the morning, watching the ten-some recruits that she'll be working with as their leader talks to them about the day's exercises.<p>

The day passes quickly. The leader disappears inside the palace for a few moments to ask for water bottles and everyone is stretching out when Sangok starts to walk towards Katara. The end-of-day chatter slowly falls quiet.

"I've been meaning to show you this." Sangok is holding up a book, and Katara's eyes widen fractionally. She recognizes the dusty, reddish-brown leather cover. Her eyes dart to the top right corner and her name is scratched in there. "I think this is yours?"

"You may turn that over to me," Katara says, her expression hardening.

"This is a Fire children's storybook, isn't it?" he says, eyes running over the characters like he's seeing them for the first time. Katara knows he's probably read through the whole thing for anything that might help defame her.

"Yes, it is," Katara says, clipped.

A lazy smile spreads across his face. "I found this with one of the Fire slaves. Zuko, I think his name was."

Katara's eyes narrow. "You can hand it to me now," she repeats.

"Last I heard, you had spent nearly two hours in the training chambers with the slave. As if you were equals."

"And of course you take whispers on the streets over my own word?" she says flippantly. "I'd just like the book back, please, so I can leave to my other work. Or if it suits you better, you could return it to the palace library or my study yourself."

"I'm sure that _work _includes a visit to the training chambers," he says. "Or a game of Pai Sho."

Katara's voice turns icy; frozen over with thinly veiled malice. "What are you implying, soldier?"

He smirks. "It's not befitting of you to play dumb. I'm sure you've heard the rumors."

"Think about what you're saying." Katara's heartbeat skids and some of this must show on her face because Sangok grins.

"That Lady Katara has a lover. She plays games with him, _trains _with him at night, when no one is watching-"

"I will not tolerate this," Katara says lowly. She starts to see red and all she wants to do is tackle him, or encase him in a block of ice; freeze a sliver of water and watch it sink into him. "Zuko is a slave. He is nothing to me."

The look that seeps into Sangok's eyes is one of victory and too late Katara realizes her slip.

"And yet his name came so easily to your lips."

"You are dismissed."

"A new trick of yours," Sangok hisses. "Get something out of sight and pretend it doesn't exist. You weren't like this before. Have you picked it up from the slave?"

"_You are dismissed._" Her voice holds something dangerous and she is _so close _to losing it. Both of her hands itch to feel ice at their fingertips.

He continues, taunting. He has the full attention of the troop now. "He's poisoned your mind. Is it worth it, Lady Katara? Is having a _firebender _warm your bed-"

Katara lunges for Sangok, aiming straight for his throat and he never gets to finish his sentence. He sidesteps neatly and Katara hears running; feels someone's hands firmly grip her arms, but she still strains towards him, her vision all red, and fights viciously to get away from the grip. Sangok's lips curl in a small smile and he puts his right fist and left hand together in a mocking bow before turning to leave.

"May Tui and La be with the stronger man," Katara says, still seething, her voice mimicking the tone of his gesture.

Sangok freezes mid-step and everything suddenly goes still. She's uttered the words for a formal challenge to a duel. Duels are so rare in the South that the words are something that kids will say jokingly to each other, but there is nothing humorous in her voice.

"You're speaking in anger, my lady," he says. He looks at her and meets her gaze steadily. "I will give you a chance to take back the challenge before you come to regret it."

"I can't take it back now."

"I'm letting you. Just this once," he says, eyes glinting.

Katara lets amusement play across her features. "Do I sense hesitation?"

"Only hesitation at fighting the Chief's daughter."

"Men and women are treated as equals here, or haven't you heard? This isn't the North. You have nothing to worry about."

Sangok smiles thinly. "Then may Koh keep an eye on the weaker."

* * *

><p>"You challenged him to a duel," Sokka says hollowly.<p>

"Yes."

"We haven't had a duel in the South in more than a decade."

"Yes."

Her brother shakes his head slowly. "You've gotten yourself into a mess, little sister."

Katara still can't think clearly. "How _dare _he? Insulting me like that? _Accusing _me like that? I should have fought him _right there _and ended it!"

"Tui and La be with you," Sokka sighs.

* * *

><p>xxx<p>

* * *

><p>(AN): Thanks to anyone who's reading! And reviews are always welcome :D


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